Graeme and Linda Dargie welcomed us to their lovely house and garden to participate in the President’s Hello. The afternoon got off to a great start with a fly over by the Red Arrows - even previous President David Williams didn’t manage that despite all his Royal Air Force connections.The sunny weather was also just about perfect and a good turn out of Rotarians and guests stood around conversing happily until Graeme made the magical announcement ‘foods ready’. After meals were duly chosen from an amazingly wide and appetising selection, conversations were resumed from seated positions between delicious mouthfuls.Graeme and Linda have a beautiful garden which includes a water feature with water cascading over some shiny stone spheres, rumour has it only very recently installed for the benefit of the Hello.The forecasted rain (well, on some phones anyway), did not appear and the weather seemed to get hotter later on. Everyone agreed it was a wonderful day and felt well and truly welcomed, a great hello from our new President Graeme and from Linda. Thanks to them and to all who helped by providing food and helping with set up and take down.Words by Ray Munden. See the photo album here.

9th July - President’s Hello

Scrapbook for Rotary year 2017/2018

(All entries are in reverse chronological order)

What a beautiful day it was for our annual event on Therfield Heath, the winds were about 12mph and the sun was out for most of the day - and the rain stayed away, thank goodness.We had many hundreds of visitors again this year, many staying for the whole day rather than just the morning or afternoon. This year we also had the historic vehicles on display and, although it was their first time at the show, approx 65 vehicles attended.The kite festival had all the usual attractions, not the least being the famous “Teddy bear drop” where a few bears are hoisted aloft by kite but come down on their own little parachutes. The youngsters really enjoy that spectacle.Many thanks to our Kite Festival organiser for this year, Jonathan Berks, and to his committee and all the various helpers (including partners) who always do so much to make this event the success it was.Click on the link to see the photos of the Kite Festival here and for the Historic Vehicle Show here.

6th August - Kite Festival & Historic Vehicle Show

This was the first Rotarian walk we’d organised so we were a little concerned that the weather would be foul, that no-one would turn up, that the pub would get the meal choices wrong, or worse, that I had booked the wrong weekend; it has happened to me before!But what a morning! We were blessed with good company (twenty one Rotarians, spouses and guests), bright sunshine along with a cooling breeze and a pub that was ready and willing to welcome us back.It was a gentle walk starting from the village of Aspenden, along a mixture of farm tracks, shady footpaths and Roman roads. After six miles we were all pleased to see the pub and judging from the lively conversations in the restaurant everyone seemed to have enjoyed the morning.

13th August - Monthly Walk - Organised by Steve and Sue Higginbotham

Scrapbook For The Rotary Year 2017/2018

Scrapbook for Rotary year 2017/2018

(All entries are in reverse chronological order)

A beautiful Summer’s day for this eagerly awaited event with more than a dozen entrants in a variery of cherished vehicles. The teams were despatched with true military precision by our organiser, Phillip, from Royston Town Hall car park from 10.30am with a few minutes between each. Each team was provided with a route guide and questions about points on the route to answer on the journey.And it was a beautiful day for it, driving through the quiet Hertfordshire and Essex villages and stopping off to answer some of Phillip’s fiendish questions. Inevitably, a certain amount of “bunching” took place wherever Rotarians had stopped and were scurrying about looking for answers in churchyards or village greens. And although most teams managed to navigate the 41 mile course there was the occassional wayward team who deviated to places such as the town of Baldock!Everyone made it in the end to a really enjoyable barbecue at David and Diane Blundell’s house in Melbourn. The Sports and Social Team (and their helpers) had been hard at work laying out the tables, chairs, food and drinks and also erecting gazebos to keep us all cool. Once all the good things were eaten it was the time to announce the winners of the treasure hunt: the winners were declared as the Berks team with a runaway score, with runners up Tony and Bryony.Grateful thanks to Phillip and Ruth Martin who did all the ground work to devise this very enjoyable treasure hunt. Thanks also to David and Diane Blundell for hosting and to all the helpers and contributors to the barbecue.See all pictures of the event here.

28th August - Rotary Treasure Hunt/Road Ramble

We are so sad to announce the death of David Williams, who has been one of our staunch members for many years. David had such a charming manner that he would immediately put you at your ease and was always interested in what you had to say to him. He had a wealth of stories and anecdotes to entertain which were suitable for every occasion. He had been a very successful President of the Club for the Rotary year 2015/2016 and during this year was able to present a cheque for £6,000 on behalf of the Club to the Willow Foundation, a charity very close to his heart.David began his career as an RAF officer, gaining his navigator’s wings and posted to 617 Squadron (The Dam Busters) flying Avro Vulcan jets during the cold war. A later posting saw him commanding a squadron of Victor refuelling tankers during the first Gulf War. He finished his military career with the rank of Air Commodore having just previously been the station commander at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.On retiring from the RAF David joined the Willow Foundation as its CEO and spent many years with them building it up from a small local charity into one that now has a national presence. It was natural therefore that the Willow Foundation would be David’s nominated charity during his presidential year.David’s funeral took place on 31st August at Barley Church and it was such a tribute to him that over 300 mourners from all over the country came to pay their respects. The church was full to overflowing with standing room only.David was a real family man and we pass our condolences on to his wife Sue and to their two sons Simon and Jamie and their families.David will be sorely missed!

15th August - Our Past President, David Williams OBE, Has Died

It was a pleasant summer’s morning when Martin Berry and John Wahlich set off on their 75 km (47 mile) walk along the Norfolk Coastal Path from Hunstanton to Cromer. The walk was in memory Chris Hardy, who, if he had not tragically died of cancer a couple of years ago, would have celebrated his 70th birthday this year. To commemorate his life, and to raise money for charity, Chris's children had organised several fund raising events on the theme of 70, and this inspired John to organise this 70 km walk. The walk would take two days and by clicking on the map at the right you can see the route taken.Within the first 200 yards or so, our intrepid walkers had established their modus operandi - they had taken a wrong turn but were still going in more or less the right direction. The beauty of this walk is that – as long as you keep the sea to your left - you can't go far wrong!The first part of the walk took them past Hunstanton golf course and literally miles of blackberry bushes - all with deliciously ripe fruit. Picking blackberries as they walked in the sunshine, with a cool breeze blowing in from the sea, and with glorious views of the North Norfolk coast, they reflected on how lucky they were to be alive – and to be here. If only they knew what lay ahead!After passing Holme and Thornham the coastal path takes an annoying 3 mile detour inland before returning to the coast at Brancaster. Here the path runs along the coast through Brancaster Staithe to Burnham Overy Staithe with a vast expanse of marshland between the sea and terra firma. This section of the walk has its own unique – almost other worldly - beauty. It also has a lonely feel to it – emphasised by the lack of other walkers. Approaching Burnham Overy Staithe there is a little inlet that forces the path inland again through the edge of the village before returning to the coast and an ice cream van by the sea. But our heroes didn’t stop for refreshment. No, they only paused to remove rocks, and jagged bits of dead seagull from their boots.Pressing on, the marshland gives way to a beautiful, sandy beach at Holkham – with horses galloping along the shoreline and dogs doing what dogs do when they go to the seaside. Our heroes had booked a modest bothy for the night at Holkham and their plan had been to go straight there from Holkham beach – but they had made good time and only walked 20 miles that day, with 27 miles to walk the next day. So they decided to press on to Wells-Next-the-Sea. The path between Holkham beach and Wells-next-the-Sea runs through delightful woodland, busy with holiday makers, and it emerges onto a giant levy that runs, straight as an arrow, for a mile or so inland to the town.Here they were met by their adoring support team.The following day, after a hearty breakfast (which in John’s case consisted of some fruit, some cereal and a glass of orange juice) they set off - on very stiff and tired legs - from Wells-next-the-Sea on the second part of their journey. This would be slightly longer – at least 25 miles – and much, much, tougher.Shortly after leaving Wells-next-the-Sea it started to rain. Not very hard at first, but it got harder as time went on – and it didn’t stop. From Wells-next-the-Sea the Coastal Path runs in a straight line past Stiffkey to the edge of Morston where there is a National Trust Information Centre and Tea Room – though our intrepid travellers didn’t dally there. They pressed on past Blakeney and then out to sea before coming back inland to Cley-next-the-Sea. Here they found a delightful tearoom right on the Coastal Path – and they stopped for some refreshment. It’s funny isn’t it? How you can get used to walking in the rain – but be depressed by the prospect of going back out into it, after you’ve been in the dry for a short time. Anyway, they pressed on and walked about half a mile out to sea to get to a point that was no more than a few hundred yards from where they had been an hour before. They then started on the toughest part of their journey – a five mile section of shingle beach that runs past Salthouse and the Muckleburgh Collection of military hardware and on past Weybourne. Feeling really quite tired after the shingle beach, our two heroes now had some hills to climb along the cliffs at Sheringham. They had run out of conversation by this point and were just pushing on – though they did stop to watch a lone golfer playing the beautiful Sheringham Golf Course in the rain and a steam train on the North Norfolk Railway puffing its way towards Holt.After walking along the promenade at Sherringham they climbed the 63m “Beaston Bump” from which they could see their final destination – Cromer, and it didn’t look that far away. But it was further than it looked! The coastal path between Sherringham and Cromer had collapsed, so the route had been diverted inland through seemingly endless caravan parks. They came to a town, which they thought was Cromer and the end of their journey – but it turned out to be West Runton. They pressed on and came to another town they thought was Cromer – but it turned out to be East Runton. They started to wonder how many more Runtons they would have to walk through before they came to Cromer, but then, there it was - Cromer! Not a particularly attractive town but after walking at least 73 km in just over 14 hours it looked beautiful to them.

29th - 30th August - 70 Km Coastal Walk to Remember Chris Hardy

Saturday 16th September saw the annual Rotary contribution, jointly with the Royston Methodist Church, to the Royston Arts Festival. We were privileged to hold one of the first events of the Royston arts festival, featuring the Phoenix Chorus.The Phoenix Chorus can be up to 80 strong, but on this occasion we had 50. Phoenix is an award winning women’s choir (they were wearing medals as proof) who have sung at the Albert Hall and have recently won, by merit, a place in a forthcoming international competition to be held in St Louis, Missouri (and Jonathan via TaxAssist kindly offered to sponsor them as there will be significant costs). They sing “a cappella” songs in the barbershop style and their harmonies were beautiful. Even more impressively the singers for each voice weren’t standing together but were interspersed throughout the choir, so managing to stay in such close harmony was amazing.We were treated to a wide range of tunes, including pop and rock songs from Queen (Don’t Stop me Now), Simon and Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Water), Adele (Rolling in the Deep), a hymn by Horatio Spafford (All is Well With my Soul, written after a series of horrendous disasters in which he lost most of his family and his wealth – its worth a web search on his name) and tunes from musicals such as Anthem from Chess. Several times quartets broke out to perform, again with very close harmony, and we even had a Hen Party quartet along with jokes – the bride to be was wondering how she could remember the stages of the wedding. Easy she thought, I have to go up the aisle, then I have to change my name, then there will be a hymn, so all I have to remember is ‘Aisle Change Hymn’ (say it out loud and you’ll get it)!The audience obviously appreciated the performance as was evidenced by the very loud applause. Many thanks to those from Rotary who helped with the tea, coffee and biscuits at the interval, to Howard for doing ticket sales and of course the Methodist Church for providing the venue and for booking Phoenix. The end result was £100 raised for the Church and, including the retiring collection, £240 for the Garden House Hospice - and all whilst everybody had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.Words and picture by Ray Munden

16th September - Concert By The Phoenix Chorus

At our meeting tonight we were delighted to welcome MIKE DAY and NICHOLA SHARPE to the Royston Rotary Family. Following their successful election, club President Graeme Dargie presented both of them with their badges and a welcome pack. The photo shows (from left) Graeme, Mike, Nichola and Martin Berry who was their membership sponsor.We look forward to getting to know Mike and Nichola even better in the months ahead.

26th September - Election of New Members

About 30 Rotarians and partners met up at the American Cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge for a tour by Tracy, one of the permanent guides. On first arriving one cannot fail to be impressed with the layout of the site and the neatness of it all. There are over 3,000 headstones placed in a series of semi-circles, radiating outwards from the raised flagpole, which is intended to be the focal point of the site. Apparantly every single headstone is washed three times every week.We were taken to the “Wall of the Missing” and our guide explained that over 5,000 names were carved into the long tablets of Portland Stone. She proceeded to bring some of these names to life by relating stories of how specific people were lost and showed a photographs of those persons. It was a sobering experience listening to the stories of these brave men and women.We visted the Chapel of Remembrance with it’s stunning mosaics on the ceilings and all down the east side. On one wall was an enormous frieze showing in relief the various theatres of war of WW2 and the involvement of the US, British and Canadian forces in each of them. At that point the tour ended and we individually browsed around the physical burials and the very interesting visitor centre.At 4.30 we were privileged to be involved with the lowering of the American flag. Once lowered there is a set sequence of folding until there is just a small triangle showing the stars on the flag. President Graeme performed this with aplomb but with more than a little help!Photos by Neil H, Bryony and Tony

29th September - Visit to The American Cemetery at Madingley

Many a Yee-Haw was heard today at our Wild West Party as Rotarians gathered for a fancy dress evening kindly hosted at David and Liz Beardwell’s home. As is typical of these events a fiendish quiz had first been set to test out our knowledge of the Wild West. Your scribe’s team only managed to score 6 out of a possible 15 whereas the winning team scored a creditable 11 points.It was soon time for chow-down and the cookhouse staff had prepared a typical cowboy’s meal of sausages, bacon and plenty of beans. The delicious puddings and cheese that were to follow were never experienced in any old westerner’s ranch house but were nevertheless much appreciated by all.We then came to the shooting competition where we were each given three shots to knock down a few empty bean cans. What a dismal failure we all were! There was many a shout of “aim low” and “shoot high” but without much success. Only a few of our sharpshooters were able to knock down any of the cans despite the fact that the distance from gun to target was only 5 feet!Linda Dargie announced that the prize for the best outfit went (deservedly) to David Easthope for also bringing his horse along (see picture)! There were a few other honourable mentions which included Jon and Linda Berks (pictured above). A great night’s entertainment and grateful thanks to the army of caterers who prepared the food, and to the Sports and Social team for arranging it all. Thank you also David and Liz for risking so much bean juice on your carpets and furniture!Pictures and words by Tony

7th October - Wild West Night

This month’s walk began at Stansted Abbots on the River Lea Navigation. Although there were fourteen walkers in all to do the six mile figure of eight, two walkers opted for an easier (and shorter) hike along the river towpath.The main group set off along the “New River” whose name is a misnomer. It is actually a man-made aquaduct which was constructed in a most imaginative way in the early seventeenth century to bring fresh water from springs near Ware all the way to London. The river exactly follows the 100 foot contour line for 40 miles, thus needing no bridges or tunnels in order to transport the water. After a couple of miles New River converged fairly close to the River Lea and the group diverted across this to visit the Rye House. This is a very old (15th century) grade 1 listed structure with attractive barley-twist chimneys and gateposts, but which, sadly has only the gatehouse remaining (see photo); however it is clearly marked out where the important rooms on the ground floor would have been. This building is famous for being the home of Katherine Parr, the sixth (and final) wife of Henry Xlll. In the seventeenth century the house was also the headquarters of the so-called Rye House Plot to (unsuccessfully) assasinate King Charles ll and his brother James, Duke of York.The walk continued along the towpath of the River Lea passing on the other side, a go-kart track with drivers roaring around. This track was the place which first saw the very young Lewis Hamilton learn his craft and which proudly contains many of his old trophies and posters in the clubhouse.The main group continued following the River Lea for another mile or so until they reached Dobbs Weir. At this point they were planning to cross back to the New River but eventually decided to walk the full return route along the towpath of the River Lea.Both parties met up for lunch at the Jolly Fisherman pub at Stansted Abbot where a convivial time was had by all. Many thanks to John Kelly for organising this walkPhotos by Bryony

8th October - Monthly Walk Organised by John Kelly

The defibrillator paid for by the Rotary Club of Royston club has been officially installed at the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust shop in Fish Hill Square.At the unveiling were Graeme Dargie (club President) and Karin (Last year’s Club President) from our Club, Maria Alexander (Head of Fundraising) and Tina Jolly (shop manager) from EHAAT and a representative of the supplier of the defibrillator.Graeme said ‘Our Club was already considering providing a defibrillator in Royston when we heard that EHAAT were going to raise funds to put one outside their new shop in Royston. As we think that EHAAT is a very worthy charity we immediately offered to fund the whole cost of the defibrillator and were delighted that our offer was enthusiastically received. Our club is committed to helping in the local community so were very pleased to be able to provide this service.’Words and picture by Ray Munden

2nd October -Presentation of Defibrillator to EHAAT

Our Club held the Annual Charity Swimathon event last Sunday, October 15th at the Royston Leisure Centre. Once again it was a highly successful event and well supported by organisations from around the town with 16 teams and with a total of 80 swimmers. The swimmers covered a total of 1611 lengths of the swimming pool – very impressive!The organizations participating were: •5th Royston Rainbows, •10th Royston Cub Scouts, •5th Royston Brownies (3 teams), •3rd Royston (Methodist) Guides, •2nd Royston Guides, •Greneway School Year 8 Girls, •Greneway School Year 8 Boys, •The Wilderness Explorer Scouts, •Greneway School Boys, •Home Start Royston & South Cambridgeshire, •Royston Methodist Church, •Royston & District Town Twinning Association, •Royston Freewheelers •Rotary Club of Royston A substantial amount of money has been sponsored for the event, we expect that several thousands of pound will be available for a wide selection of Charities, the final figure will be published when all has been collected.See more pictures of the Swimathon here (all photos courtesy of Neil Heywood).

15th October - Swimathon

This month’s walk was a variation on a route we had used earlier in the year. It was a circular walk alongside the river Great Ouse in what turned out to be glorious sunshine, if a little cool! We had 10 walkers for the day plus Tony and Bryony who were both medically below par so just supporting. It was so good to see John and Jennifer Kelly back with their new black labrador Emmy: We have missed seeing their old dog Bess who used to come on many a Rotary walk with us, so let’s hope Emmy enjoys these walks as much as Bess did.We started from the Axe and Compass pub in Hemmingford Abbots shortly after 10 o’clock and followed the route marked in red in a clockwise direction. The walk finished back at the pub by 12.45 just in time for a most welcome and hearty meal.Thanks to Bryony for organising the walk and to Martin for leading the party round.

5th November - Monthly Walk

On Wednesday 8th November, Studland’s Rise School hosted the 20th annual ‘Youth Speaks’ event for Year 4 Students. This event gives young people the opportunity to speak on a subject of their choice to an audience of parents, family members, teachers, fellow students and members of the Rotary Club of Royston.This year we were delighted to have fifty speakers (that’s 20 more than last year) from eight local schools (three more than last year): Icknield Walk First School , Studlands Rise First School, Tannery Drift First School, Barley First School, Barkway First School, Therfield First School, Reed First School and St Mary’s RC Primary School. The children spoke on nineteen subjects ranging from Michael Jackson to Japan; from the Chocolate to Dinosaurs. All the presentations were interesting and informative. Lukas Thirlwell (a child in year 3) deserves a special mention – he stood in for his older brother at very short notice to speak about Michael Jackson when his older brother was taken ill.The full list of speakers and their topics was as followsMartin Berry (Junior Vice-President of Royston Rotary Club) presented each student with a certificate to commemorate their participation in this event. We are very grateful to Mrs Alison Rinna, Head Teacher of Studland’s Rise School, for hosting the event.

The Club’s very first memory cafe was held in The Old Barn in Upper King Street, Royston. It was a very successful event with a total of eighteen clients attending plus ten Rotarian helpers (including two from the Cambridge South Rotary Club who run their own Memory Cafe). The event is under the capable organising skills of Rotarian David Izod.The Memory Cafe is intended to be an informal “drop-in” centre for people with various memory disorders (plus their carers) to provide a safe and friendly environment and where their various failing faculties can be stimulated. It will be a regular event occurring on the second monday of each month.This first event included tea, coffee and biscuits for attendees followed by a brain training game of Lotto. After this we had a singalong to a number of popular songs from the 1950’s accompanied by Lesley Izod on the piano.The event lasted about two hours with many of the vistors expressing the wish to come again to the next session.

13th November - First Ever Memory Cafe!

A total of 23 Rotarians and partners helped with this year’s collection for Children in Need over the two days, some being deployed to stand in the foyer at the local Tesco supermarket whilst the others braved the biting wind whistling down Royston High Street.The result was a massive £3,712being raised - an amazingly successful sum which was primarily due to the generosity of Roystonians but also to the organisation that Rotarian David Izod had put into the collection.

17th and 18th November - Children In Need Collection

On Wednesday 15th November, Greneway School hosted the 20th annual ‘Youth Speaks’ event for students in Years 5, 6, 7 & 8. This event gives young people the opportunity to speak on a subject of their choice to an audience of parents, family members, teachers, fellow students and members of the Rotary Club of Royston.This year we were delighted to have 57 speakers from three local schools: Greneway Middle School, Roysia Middle School and St Mary’s RC Primary School. The children spoke on 20 subjects ranging from Roblox to Women’s Rights; from The Bermuda Triangle to Nelson Mandela. All the presentations were interesting and informative and many were also amusing and entertaining.Encouraging feedback was provided by Rotarian Clarice Wahlich & Di Charles, and we are very grateful to Mrs Laura Rawlings, Head Teacher of Greneway School, for hosting the event.The list of participants and the subjects on which they spoke follows:

This is always a busy time of year for Royston Rotary Club. On Friday 1st December we installed and decorated a seven foot Christmas Tree at Richard Cox House which is a home in Royston for the elderly with long term needs and also for respite care. We were ably assisted by some of the residents including Peggy (pictured) who threw her weight into the decorating. The sherry and mince pies provided by the home were very welcome to the small band of Rotarians.On the following day an even larger team of Rotarians pitched up to St George’s Nursing Home to install and decorate three trees, including one upstairs on the landing. Our efforts were greatly appreciated by the home and mulled wine with mince pies (yet again) were very acceptable. We were accompanied by suitably seasonal Christmas carols which made us all believe that Christmas could only be just around the corner!

This evening we were delighted to have the formal induction of Oscar Sassoli into our club. Oscar is well known to club members having attended numerous functions and meetings over the years, as well as being a working colleague of Rotarian Tim Penn who will also act as his mentor for the next few weeks. We welcome Oscar to the Royston Rotary Club.The photo shows President Graeme Dargie congratulating Oscar after the induction.

28th November - New Member Elected

10th December - Monthly Walk

11th December - Christmas Memory Cafe

The overnight snowfall in Royston put paid to the scheduled monthly walk which was due to take place over the Therfield Heath. David and Lesley Izod were sadly left with oodles of shepherds pie for the expected lunch afterwards but put a brave face on it!

Rotary Walkers Lament (with apologies to Dean Martin)Oh, the weather outside is frightfulBut the fire is so delightfulSince walking will be a blowLet it snow, let it snow, let it snow.It shows no sign of stopping And Lesley’s made lunch for scoffingBut the roads are all no goLet it snow, let it snow, let it snow.The fire is slowly dyingBut the walkers are still good-byeingNext year we’ll get gentle blowsLet it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

December’s Memory Café had a Christmas theme in more ways than one! The snow outside reduced the numbers attending but a warm spirit prevailed. We had seven attendees and eight others who were unable to get to the Old Barn because of being iced in at home. After drinks and mince pies, we had a reading by Scrooge, (in his happy mode - see photo), of the famous story “A Christmas Carol”. This was followed by crackers, carol singing and with Santa coming down the chimney to present pre-Christmas gifts. A happy yule time was had by all, looked after by eleven Rotarians.P.S. A lady, whose mother had recently moved to be with her because of dementia, mentioned to Lesley Izod that "it was wonderful to see her mother totally absorbed" by our programme yesterday.

This year’s Christmas dinner celebration was held at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in Cambridge (formerly The Garden House Hotel) which is set in a pleasant location on the banks of the River Cam.Following a lovely three-course dinner, President Graham announced two unexpected but richly deserved Paul Harris awards. The first was to Rotarian Brian Whittakerfor all his additional behind-the-scenes work he has performed for the Club over the years. The second was to Linda Berkswho has tirelessly helped Rotarians and their partners whenever either of them was laid up with an illness or infirmity. The photos show both Brian and Linda being presented with their Paul Harris awards.After the presentations we were entertained by Ebenezer Scrooge himself (aka Neil Heywood) reading extracts from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Neil’s rendering, in character, of this famous story kept us all enthralled for many minutes. This was followed by the whole party singing carols, accompanied by Lesley Izod on the piano and led by the lovely voice of Sue Pinner.More photos of the event can be seen here.

12th December - Christmas Dinner

From 2nd December through to 23rd December Club members went along to Bury Lane Fam Shop, near Royston, to help Father Christmas distribute presents to many visiting children. A total of 14 different Rotarians were involved to cover 21 separate 2-hour sesions in Santa’s grotto over the 4 weekends of December, bringing smiles and wonderment to the faces of the many children and parents who visited.The photo shows a picture of Santa in his grotto with his little elf helper on the last weekend before Christmas.

Throughout December - Helping Santa at Bury Lane Farm Shop

January 10th 2018 - Another Donation to Embocraft

Our International Projects Chairman, David Blundell, has announced that a Christmas gift of £1000 (approx R16,600) has been sent to our friends at Embocarft in Kwa/Zulu Natal, South Africa. The purpose of these funds is for the purchase of additional sewing machine and for training. Linda Venton at Embocraft expressed her delight and appreciation for the gift.The EmbocraftProject is designed to empower the people of an area devastated by poverty. It is based close to the Inanda Dam where the population of 25,000 is exclusively Zulu-speaking, with 88% considered poor. HIV/AIDS is endemic. Embocraft conducts skills training to develop products which can both benefit households and generate income. Those taking part learn to sew both for themselves and their community. For more details on Embocraft please see http://embocraft.co.za/ .

13th January - Annual Quiz

Greeneway School in Royston was the venue for the Annual Rotary Quiz Night, and once again it was very well attended. There was a total of 129 attendees spread over 17 different teams to answer the fiendish questions set by quizmaster Phillip Martin. There were a total of ten rounds covering different topics, each consisting of ten questions. The teams could select one topic in advance to play a “joker” which had the effect of doubling the score for that round.The winning team was “Bob Cats” who scored a total of 82 out of a possible 110, followed by the teams “T.A.D.S.” (78) and “Good Loosers” (75). The picture shows the captain of team “Bob Cats” receiving the winner’s cup.The event raised in excess of £1,000 for distribution to Rotary charities. Much thanks goes to the quizmaster, the scorers, the bar staff, the runners and the raffle staff for their hard work on the night.

14th January - Monthly Walk

The start and finish of our walk was the largest building in the village of Abington in the Clay, known since the 17c as Abington Pigotts. The latter name comes from the Pykot or Pigott family who owned the surrounding manorial land for four centuries. This early 18c Inn was for much of its life the ' Darby and Joan' becoming , in the 1980's, the Pig and Abbot.The four and a half mile walk was 2/3 on the road and 1/3 on well established footpaths to avoid the teddy boy thick soled shoes you normally get walking the fields this time of year. It was hard work for the spritely bunch struggling over the 28 foot rise and fall on their way to Litlington. This village, one of the few in the country with a one way system, offers a 13c Church whose, once spired, tower was used as a positioning post for the P47s and P51s USA fighters based at a nearby WWII airbase and a 2c 30 roomed Roman Villa excavated in 2010 by the BBC Time Team. During the walk through the village we passed the residence of our own Peter Franks, one of Royston's revered restorers, on our way to the river where Bassa's people settled. From the on route footpath on the right we had a fine